I loved Shiver. Loved, loved, loved it. More than I thought I would. And having read a lot of trilogies over the years, I knew the second book was going to make things worse before it got better in the last book, which is why I held off reading Linger until Forever came out. Because I knew I would not be able to handle whatever cliff Maggie left Sam and Grace hanging on at the end of Linger. And boy, was I right.
In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.
At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love — the light and the dark, the warm and the cold — in a way you will never forget.
Even the summary makes you believe there’s going to be some traumatic ending where everything hangs together by a fraying string. This is why I don’t like trilogies. BUT I liked Linger, largely due to Sam and Grace.
I love them together.
So, let me tell what’s different from this book to Shiver.
First off, you have two new point of views in addition to Sam and Grace’s. Isabel, who you should remember from Shiver as Jack’s sister and who knows the truth about the wolves, and Cole, who is one of the new wolves that Beck brought down from Canada, have their own story that intertwines with Sam and Grace’s throughout the book. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to make of this difference. I don’t particularly care about anyone else because I only want Sam and Grace. I know that’s an extremely selfish thing to say because I’m sure someone out there cared about Isabel and Cole’s POVs, but I’m not one of them. Sam and Grace only, please.
To be fair, though, they did add a different dynamic which made the overall book a little darker and melodramatic. This appeased my drama loving side, which is the same side that relishes watching The Vampire Diaries and reading about twisted love triangles.
The other difference is that Sam is not a wolf at any time during the book. Which means more Sam & Grace as people time! Yay!
Cole is someone we learn quite a bit about over the course of the book. He’s so different compared to Sam and his story is one that I could not have guessed in a thousand tries. How he plays into the whole thing… I see why Maggie developed him and put his POV in. He is integral to the plot.
The plot being ‘what’s wrong with Grace?’ and ‘where do the wolves (and Sam) go from here now that Beck may not come back?’
The ending. Oh, the ending. I thought I was going to cry. I didn’t want it to happen, but I could see it coming in hints the closer to the end I got. It’s just… ugh. Maggie! Why must you tug on our heartstrings so cruelly? It’s Sam and Grace! They have to be together. Otherwise nothing in this universe makes sense and there is no point to anything.
So, be warned. The ending… I’m so glad I waited until I had Forever, so that I could immediately find out what happened next.
Speaking of Forever, I’ll be reviewing it tomorrow. AND there will be a giveaway, so you don’t want to miss it! (It’s pretty awesome.) Until then!
Have you read Linger? What did you think of it? If you haven’t read it, why not?